Source: NC Policy Watch
Our children deserve an honest and accurate education that enables them to learn from the mistakes of our past to help create a better future. Yet, Republicans nationwide are pushing censorship laws while right-wing groups are demanding books featuring marginalized communities be removed from school library shelves.
In a recent interview with NC Policy Watch, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, remarked that “We’re seeing nationally organized groups create local chapters, and use social media to amplify their demands,” Caldwell-Stone said. “They will tell you that they’re asserting parental rights to direct their children’s education, but the impact of their activities is to deny other parents the right to make decisions about their own children’s education, and particularly for older adolescents denying the First Amendment rights and agency for elder adolescents to read and access the materials they find important for their lives.”.
One of the groups that have challenged school boards all over the country including here in North Carolina is Moms for Liberty. It is an organization that has strong GOP ties and has local chapters that “target local school board meetings, school board members, administrators, and teachers” to push right-wing policies, as reported by Media Matters. Moms for Liberty has more than 100 local chapters across 35 states.
According to NC Policy Watch recently two school districts banned six books in NC that discussed topics of racism and anti-Semitism. Those books are:
- “Dear Martin,” Nic Stone’s book about an Ivy League Black student who becomes a victim of racial profiling.
- “Darkness Before Dawn,” the last book from author Sharon M. Draper’s trilogy, follows a Black teen who escapes an abusive relationship.
- “Forged By Fire,” the second book in Draper’s trilogy, chronicles a Black teen who struggles to cope with the loss of his aunt.
- “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee, about a lawyer who defends a Black man falsely accused of raping a white woman.
- “All American Boys,” by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely, about two teenage boys who handle racism and police brutality.
- “Night,” Elie Wiesel’s memoir about his experiences in a holocaust camp with his father.
